Resources

Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities are entitled to support with accessing their education.

Below you will find free resources, if you need further guidance then do not hesitate to contact us to speak with our team.

What is an EHCP?

An Education, Health and Care plan (EHC plan) is a legal document which describes a child or young person's special educational needs SEN, the support they need and the outcomes they would like to achieve.

The special educational needs provision (section F) Must be provided by the child or young persons Local Authoruty LA. This means an EHC plan is additional support in their education setting

What are special educational needs?

Special educational needs SEN can affect a child/young persons ability to learn.

By Law children with SEND are entitled to educational support that meets there needs.

There are 2 questions when thinking about if a child or young person has SEN

Do they have a learning difficulty or Disability?

A child of compulsory school age (term after 5th Birthday) or young person has a learning difficulty or disability if:

they have significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
they have a disability which makes it difficult for them to use the facilities normally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or post-16 institutions.

Someone has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

Children under compulsory school age is treated as having a learning difficulty or Disability if:

it is likely they will have a learning difficulty or a disability having such impact as described above when they reach compulsory school age, or
that would be likely, if no special educational provision were made for them.

Does the learning difficulty or Disability call for SEN provision to be made?

If the answer is yes to both of these questions, then the Child or young person has SEN and therefore entitled to extra support with learning at Nursery, school or College.

Schools are required to make reasonable adjustment's and use their best endeavours to support children and young people with SEN and Disabilities

SEN and Disability Law

The Law is set out in the following Government Guidance. They set out the duties on Local Authorities, schools and other public bodies.

Statue and regulation's MUST be complied with, Statutory guidance SHOULD be complied with

SEND Code of Practice 2014

The SEN and Disability regulations 2014

Equality Act 2010

The children's and families act CAFA 2014

Exclusions and Children out of school

Exclusions

Children with special educational needs (“SEN”) and/or disabilities are much more likely to be excluded from school than their classmates.

Only the head teacher of a school (or the teacher in charge of a pupil referral unit or the principal of an academy) can exclude a pupil. There are only two types of exclusion from a school which are lawful: permanent and fixed-period (which, from 1 September 2022, is called a “suspension”).

Pupils could be excluded/suspended for a fixed term (for a specific number of school days) or permanently excluded. An exclusion/ suspension for a fixed period cannot lawfully be rolled into or ‘converted’ into a permanent exclusion. In exceptional cases (usually where further evidence has come to light) a further suspension may be issued to begin immediately after the first period ends, or a permanent exclusion may be issued to begin immediately after the end of the suspension. However, the new suspension or permanent exclusion must be separate from the suspension before and may be issued only in exceptional circumstances.

Any exclusion of a pupil, even for a short period of time, must be formally and accurately recorded.

Pupils can only be excluded for disciplinary reasons: they cannot be excluded because a school, pupil referral unit (PRU) or academy cannot meet their needs or for something which their parents did or did not do.

In addition, maintained schools have certain powers to direct pupils off-site for education to improve his or her behaviour. Academies have similar powers if their Articles of Association are written to include this. There are regulatory requirements about directing pupils off-site which apply to maintained schools and which represent good practice for Academies.

‘Informal’ or ‘unofficial’ exclusions/suspensions, such as sending a pupil home to cool off, are unlawful even if a parents or carer agrees to it

Unlawful exclusion/suspension of a pupil with a disability could be disability discrimination under the Equality Act 2010

Take the stress away from the EHCP process with our very reasonably priced EHCP packages.